"The offending phrase is of course saw an apple fall to the ground, and, in a flash of insight, came to understand the workings of gravity. This is not what happened and it also creates a completely false impression of the scientific process of discovery. Nobody, not even Newton, understands a complex scientific theory such as the theory of universal gravity in a flash of inspiration and claims that they do misinform non-scientists about how science works."Full read-worthy blog post is here.thanks gene

“We have lived by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. And this has been based on the even flimsier assumption that we could know with any certainty what was good even for us."-Wendell Berry

By writing amusing if vulgar notes to my classmates, I was learning to write -- not learning to write in a way that would please English teachers, but learning to write in a way that would hold the interest of people who had no reason to read the note, other than the expectation that they would enjoy reading it. That’s much, much closer to writing books than writing insipid research papers to please bored English teachers. The adults in charge thought they knew what was important, but in retrospect they were just completely wrong.-Bill James, as excerpted from Megan McArdle's blog post, "Go Ahead, Let Your Kids Fail"

Like an earthquake, the stock market crash of October 1929 cracked startlingly across the United States, the herald of a crisis that was to shake the American way of life to its foundations. The events of the ensuing decade opened a fissure across the landscape of American history no less gaping that that opened by the volley on Lexington Common in April 1775 or by the bombardment of Sumter on another April four score and six years later.-David M. Kennedy, Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945

This kind of person. Interesting to read that the full quote wasn't written for almost forty years after it was spoken. Hmm. Here is the full quote attributed to Pat Henry:

"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, Give me Liberty, or give me Death!"cartoon via

I spotted the girl even before she knocked on my door. I was gazing out my second-floor office window down at Berkeley Street, eating a cinnamon donut and drinking coffee with a little milk and sugar. The girl looked lost among the businesspeople and tourists hustling along the icy sidewalks. She wore a pink Boston Red Sox cap and an oversized down parka with a fur collar, and stared up at the number on the office building where Berkeley intersects Boylston.-Ace Atkins, Lullaby: A Spenser Novel

I ask that you try an experiment. Just do this for a day. Just one day. Try to go about your day under the following four pretenses: 1) You are not perfect. 2) You could stand to improve in every single facet of your life. 3) People who point out your flaws or critique your actions aren’t necessarily motivated by cruelty, hatred, and animosity. 4) Some people know how to do certain things better than you know how to do them, and you should be grateful if they take the time to offer you guidance and insight into their areas of expertise.

“Our lives are mere flashes of light in an infinitely empty universe. In 12 years of education the most important lesson I have learned is that what we see as “normal” living is truly a travesty of our potential. In a society so governed by superficiality, appearances, and petty economics, dreams are more real than anything anything in the “real world”. Refuse normalcy. Beauty is everywhere, love is endless, and joy bleeds from our everyday existence. Embrace it.-Dominic Owen Mallary

Some fun wiki facts (not to be confused with real facts): First pressings were issued as "Outer Limits", named after the television program of the same name. The song was a surf variation of that show's theme song. However,Rod Serlingsuedthe Marketts for quoting the four note motif from his television show,The Twilight Zone, without his approval, which resulted in the change of the title to "Out of Limits".[3][4] The record has been described as "an intriguing up-beat disc with a galloping rhythm".[1]
Released in 1963, this song peaked at #3 in February of 1964. It sits at #60 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles for 1964.

“The normal is that which nobody quite is. If you listen to seemingly dull people very closely, you'll see that they're all mad in different and interesting ways, and are merely struggling to hide it.” -Robert Anton Wilson

Now, if familiar patterns bore you, if normalcy passes before you unnoticed, if you want to create your own footsteps in the earth and leave your own handprints on the skies, if you are the one who doesn't mind the lines in the coloring book as much as others do, and perchance you do not cling to a flock for you to identify with, then you must be ready for adversity.-C. JoyBell C.

"A model is not all-or-nothing, right-or-wrong. A model is like a pair of binoculars. It helps you see some things more clearly, at the expense of not seeing other things at all. If you do not have that understanding of the modeling process, then you are missing what I see as a fundamental methodological truth."

The Execupundit is not thrilled with "Presidents' Day." Full post is here. Conclusion here:

"Structure matters but character and competence matter far more. My feelings on this day can be summed up as follows: Cut the staff, change the day, honor Washington and Lincoln only, and don't feel compelled to put a picture of James Buchanan (or his modern-day equivalent) on your piano."For those of you not interested in following the link on Buchanan, it goes to J. B.'s wiki, where this classic line is to be found:Buchanan's view of record was that secession was illegal, but that going to war to stop it was also illegal. Buchanan, an attorney, was noted for his mantra, "I acknowledge no master but the law."[1]

Co-written and produced by Bob Crewe, this song was released in late 1963 and got as high as #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February of 1964. Crewe may be best known for his partnership with Bob Gaudio and their string of hits for the Four Seasons.

In trench warfare five things are important: firewood, food, tobacco, candles, and the enemy. In winter on the Zaragoza front they were important in that order, with the enemy a bad last. Except at night, when a surprise-attack was always conceivable, nobody bothered about the enemy. They were simply remote black insects whom one occasionally saw hopping to and fro. The real preoccupation of both armies was trying to keep warm.-George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia

Ed. Note: The war was the Spanish Civil War. The time was 1936ish. Where Orwell was reporting from, neither side had artillery.

The short answer is "don't try." Longer answer here. Wee excerpt here:"Being correct rarely, if ever, wins a political debate. Most people’s feelings about inequality are not swayed by reason. It’s an emotional issue. They see others having more as a fundamental problem."

There was a time when I assumed that becoming a master craftsman would be a process of enlightenment. My hands were still ignorant then, and I was searching for an occupation in which I could forge an adult self. Eager for competence, I thought that having one's craft together would mean having one's life together. Today, having become reasonable competent as a furniture maker, I know better. Spiritual enlightenment is not on the table. Still, the notions that drew me to the workshop forty years ago were not without consequence. The footing on which I started my journey has shaped my choices, concerns, and experiences throughout, and my transcendent expectations for a life in craft were rewarded in more palpable ways.
-Peter Korn, Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman

"The metaphor for our age is the disappearance of high monkey bars from playgrounds across the country. We have made it impossible for children to fall very far - and in so doing, we have robbed them of the joys of climbing high."-Megan McCardle, as excerpted from here

"There is no such thing as 'bad real estate,' there are only wrong owners."-Furman Tinon"In an approximate way, the logic of commons has been understood for a long time, perhaps since the discovery of agriculture or the invention of private property in real estate."-Garrett Hardin

"Patriotism, as I see it, is often an arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles."
-George Jean Nathan

"Real estate doesn't interest me. It's no doubt a great flaw in my personality, but I can't think in terms of boundaries. Those imaginary lines are as unreal to me as elves and pixies. I can't believe that they mark the end or the beginning of anything of real concern to the human soul."
-Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

“The only difference between a cult and a religion is the amount of real estate they own."-Frank Zappa“I'm very harsh on real estate agents. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because of how the call every small house 'charming' and every run-down house a 'great fixer-upper'. Just once, I'd like them to show me a house and declare, 'This one's a piece of crap'.”-Stephen Pastis"To my real estate agent, Chernobyl is a fixer-upper."-Yakov Smirnoff

The world is full of half-enlightened masters. Overly clever, too "sensitive" to live in the real world, they surround themselves with selfish pleasures and bestow their grandiose teaching upon the unwary.Prematurely publicizing themselves, intent upon reaching some spiritual climax, they constantly sacrifice the truth and deviate from the Tao. What they really offer the world is their own confusion.

The true master understands that enlightenment is not the end, but the means. Realizing that virtue is her goal, she accepts the long and often arduous cultivation that is necessary to attain it. She doesn't scheme to become a leader, but quietly shoulders whatever responsibilities fall to her.

Unattached to her accomplishments, taking credit for nothing at all, she guides the whole world by guiding the individuals who come to her. She shares her divine energy with her students, encouraging them, creating trials to strengthen them, scolding them to awaken them, directing the streams of their lives toward the infinite ocean of the Tao.

If you aspire to this sort of master, then root yourself in the Tao. Relinquish your negative habits and attitudes. Strengthen your sincerity. Live in the real world, and extend your virtue to it without discrimination in the daily round. Be the truest father or mother, the truest brother or sister, the truest friend, and the truest disciple. Humbly respect and serve your teacher, and dedicate your entire being unwaveringly to self-cultivation. Then you will surely achieve self-mastery and be able to help others in doing the same. -Verse 80Hua Hu Ching: The Unknown Teachings of Lao TzuBrian Browne Walker

When you tell people you're writing a book, everyone tends to ask the same question: What's it about? And when you tell them you're writing a book about failure, most of them want to know why. For two years, I've been giving the same answer: "Write what you know."-Megan McCardle, from the preface to The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well is the Key to Success